Republicans for Obama

I had a wonderful conversation with my mom's supervisor as I was volunteering at her job for community service (she works at a psychiatric center).

He grew up in France who is currently a Captain in Army Reserve, and I heard that he was an Obama supporter. I told my mom that I was surprised that he would support Obama as, in my experience, people in the military generally voted Republican.

He told me that he was a moderate, and that there wasn't of those left in his party. When I mentioned the Tea Party, he laughed and said "those guys are crazy." He told me that during the GOP primaries he had trouble finding a candidate to support as all of them were too extreme.

I asked why he was voting for Obama in this election, and if he voted for McCain in '08. He said that he voted for Obama in 2008 because McCain was too vague on his policies (it was his first time voting democrat). He also said that he agrees with Obama on the economy, social issues, and foreign policies.

He said that even in '04, he was weary of Bush but believed at the time that the nation needed strong national security. Next, he said how Obama had proved him and some of his friends wrong on foreign policy. He uses these exact words: "A Democrat had never done things like that before."

I asked if he was like Colin Powell. He said yes, and he said that economy was growing albeit slowly and thought that PBO was headed in the right direction. He said that it was also unfair to compare Reagan's recovering to Obama's since the world is a much different place than it was 30 years ago.

The, he lambasted Paul Ryan. He said that "he has this budget and he can't even defend his own positions" and he thought Romney couldn't be trusted. He also said that he thought that putting Ryan on the ticket might have helped him vote for Romney, but it did the exact opposite. Next, he said thankfully we have social media to keep track of these people, and he said that when it comes to Romney/Ryan: "People aren't so stupid as they think. They're catching up."

He concluded by saying that Obama is a centrist which is what the country needs, and that the GOP needs to return to the center for the good of the country and "to represent their constituents." He said that if the GOP doesn't change on social issues and the economy, he can't imagine the Republicans winning anymore more elections.